The ghost of Apple Card past
On March 25th, Tim Cook unveiled Apple Card—”the future of credit cards.”
WTF? Fiasco! Yet another Apple blunder! Has Tim Cook lost it? Steve Jobs would never do this!!
Well … not so fast. The truth is, Steve Jobs actually did do this. At least he tried to.
The proof is likely hidden in a secret vault buried deep inside Apple Park. Fortunately, it’s also right here on my archive drive.
The year was 2004, when Apple was a very different company. It had only recently reinvented the music industry with iPod and iTunes, forever changing the way we buy and discover music.
Steve thought the time was right for Apple to offer its own credit card. He would call it … (drum roll)… Apple Card.
In typical Steve fashion, though, he wanted to do something different. Instead of offering frequent flier points or cash back, the Apple Card would be far cooler. It would offer free music.
Purchases would earn iPoints, which could be redeemed for your favorite music on iTunes.
The upside for Apple was enormous. With its own credit card, Apple would not only make money when customers bought its products, it would make money when customers bought anything. Anywhere.
Alas, the Apple Card never saw the light of day. Steve worked to create a partnership with MasterCard, but apparently he couldn’t get the terms he wanted—so he pulled the plug.
By that time, however, Apple’s internal creative teams had already worked up a campaign to introduce the Apple Card. Here are a few of the many ads they created, featuring bands that had appeal at the time.
So, Tim Cook and team didn’t exactly hatch their new scheme out of thin air. Apple has been there and almost done that.
But wait, there’s more!
Could it be? Is there yet another Apple Card lurking in Apple’s past? Kind of.
In the early days of the Apple Store, Steve Jobs and Ron Johnson cooked up the Apple ProCare Card to show the pro customers some love.
In Apple’s words, the Pro Card was “your passport to a world of benefits and privileges, designed exclusively for the professional Mac user.”
Sadly, those benefits were borderline pathetic: Free transfer of your files to a new Power Mac G5; “Pro Day” at the Apple Store with 10% off software and free installation; guaranteed next-day Genius Bar appointments; early notification of upcoming offers.
There is barely a hint of the Apple ProCare Card on the internet today—but my vague memory is that Apple actually charged $99/year for the thing.
So, make that twice that Apple dabbled with the idea of a branded card during Steve’s time. One never launched, the other mysteriously disappeared.
Fortunately for Apple, there are far more compelling pieces in place today. One would be foolish to bet against success this time around.
The Apple Card is dead. Long live the Apple Card!
Actually, there actually was a prior Apple Visa card many years ago, and I still have my old card as proof. You earned points and dollars towards Apple purchases. It was back in the multiple color-striped Apple logo days.
Interesting. Wasn’t aware of that one. There is currently an Apple Rewards Card issued by Barclays, which actually gets a page on apple.com. https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/financing
This is presented for financing options, but it is a functional Visa card as well.
Your old card and the current Barclays card are more proof that Steve did indeed have some credit card lust in him—despite what many seem to believe.
I have that card, and it’s confusing even to Barclays! It was supposed to be the iTunes Rewards card, Barclays thinks that I have that, but I have a plain grey card that only gets special financing on Apple stuff. No iTunes Rewards at all. And Barclays seems incapable or unwilling to change me to the other card without a totally new application.
It’s kind of a disappointing mess, and their interest rates are awful. It’s the first card that’s going into the sock drawer.
David Jones, you are absolutely correct! It was a rewards program where you earned cash and would use it to buy Apple products. I purchased my Macintosh Quadra 700.
I have the Barclays card now and going to use the Apple gift cardsI have gotten from purchases on it mostly Apple to buy my new Apple Watch. It’s a visa card
@Bill W: I too, have the Apple Barclay Visa card and use it to get the Apple gift cards of which you write. I use my gift cards too, for making Apple purchases, specifically Apple Watch bands. Please note that Apple limits you to using a maximum of $200 worth of your gift card per purchase. So, you will not be able to purchase the Apple Watch solely using your gift cards. It was kind of a disappointment for me when I learned about this fact.
I had that card too. I think it was late ’80s or early ’90s. I probably got two Macs for “free” with it.
You could only max out the 5% rewards at $500/year. Since it was only around for three years, you could have only saved $1,500 – Not sure how you could get two whole Macs for that. I did get a Messagepad 2000 with keyboard.
And how long are we going to be waiting for the legal teams to finish this up and get to laser etching Titanium?…
A few key factors for me will be whether or not the card provides an extended warranty, which nearly every card in the world does this?…
Apple Pay now working at Target is a big deal for our here-and-there needs. Walmart could stand to get onboard however, and Costco now using Apple Pay was a HUGE deal for us… Although, I’ll be sticking with my VISA Costco card for those purchases.
Basically, for our family, doing a bit of yearly history, we received only 1% cash back for roughly 40% of all our purchases. Others we’re 4% back on gas, 3% Costco and travel, 2% at a few locations and 1% for everything else.
Based on 40% at 1% cash back, we’ll be using the Apple Card for all these instances. Thus, our additional cash back per year should be another $200 – $250. No annual fee? Why not?
3% off Apple purchases? Sure, I’ll take that for my business.
I believe I had the Apple Pro Card – of course!
Great column although, truth be told, I expected an article about the original Apple Card:
HyperCard !!
Ah, yes. A classic!
HI Ken. Former Apple retail store employee here. Let me tell you, the ProCare cards were the bane of my existence. I was in charge of business sales in our store, and honestly, we used NOT selling the ProCare card as a way to get pro business. Trying to sell that thing with a straight face, telling your best/highest revenue customers, “Hey we value you so much that if you give us another $99, we’ll get your repairs done a little quicker!” was ridiculous. Instead at our store at least, we’d outline the benefits, then say “Of course, you’re in here so much, if you ever have any problems, of course we’re going to help you as fast as possible.” So, they felt like we were being honest with them by not trying to sell it to them, and they felt we were going the extra mile to help them. I don’t think that was quite the logic Apple had in creating the card, but it worked for us.
Hey Ryan, thanks for this story. Sometimes we can only wonder what goes on behind the scenes, and this is more than interesting. Makes a lot of sense though. I’ve always been a enthusiastic buyer, but the ProCare never once made me reach for my wallet.
you have been quoted sir!
https://www.idownloadblog.com/2019/05/20/steve-jobs-apple-card-2004/
I also had an Apple credit card in the early 1990s. As noted above, you earned credit that you could use towards an Apple product. After paying my rent and other expenses for a few years I was able to get a Macintosh Performa in the 1990s. I don’t think that the credit I earned covered 100% of the cost, but it covered most of it, which was a big help since I was on a student’s budget at the time.
-Jeff
Quoted again here:
https://9to5mac.com/2019/05/20/former-apple-ad-exec-says-steve-jobs-wanted-to-launch-an-apple-credit-card-in-2004-customers-earned-ipoints/
https://www.idownloadblog.com/2019/05/28/citigroup-backed-out-apple-card/
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